


Head Over Boots

by catwrites



Category: Pacific Rim (Movies)
Genre: Chuck Lives, Fluff, M/M, Post-Operation Pitfall (Pacific Rim)
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-08-01
Updated: 2017-08-01
Packaged: 2018-12-09 14:38:05
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 5,384
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11671083
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/catwrites/pseuds/catwrites
Summary: Raleigh and Chuck are having a competition to see who is better at planning dates for the other. Too bad Chuck doesn't actually know about it.





	Head Over Boots

**Author's Note:**

> Howdy! Have like 5,000 words of fairly domestic fluff. 
> 
> Not beta'd and all that. Title from the sappy country song of the same name by Jon Pardi.

Chuck is constantly a surprise to Raleigh. From the appearance of his escape pod to the mature, mellowed version of him that emerged from it. The biggest surprise comes when the decide to give the whole relationship thing a chance. 

Chuck, despite all the signs that would lead Raleigh to believe otherwise, is completely open and free with his affections. The day after their friends with benefits thing becomes too serious for them to ignore and they have a Talk like grownups, Raleigh is made aware of this fact. 

They’re walking with Tendo through the Shatterdome after breakfast, talking about the proposed change to the software that links the Jaegers and the LOCCENT when Mako comes down the hall. She frowns at Chuck.

“Are you supposed to be somewhere?” 

Chuck glances at his watch. “Ah, shit. I’m supposed to sit in on a meeting with my father about the upgrades to the propulsion systems. I’m going to be late. I’ll see you lot for dinner.”

With that, Chuck darts in and gives Raleigh a quick, distracted peck on the lips before hurrying off down the hall.

The silence that follows makes Raleigh flush in embarrassment. 

“Well,” Tendo says. “That’s new.”

Raleigh rubs at the side of his neck uncomfortably. “We’re giving it a go. I was going to tell you.”

He directs the last comment towards Mako, who nods. He’s told her everything, from the first fumbling time he and Chuck fucked, to the subsequent buildup of feelings. 

Tendo glances between the two of them, before he puts his hands up. “I get it. You two need some co-pilot time. I’ll see you two around. Good luck with Chuck.”

“Thanks, Tendo. I’ll come check out the new code in a little bit, okay? I won’t know what I’m looking at, but I’ll pretend for you.”

Tendo grins and gives him a sloppy salute. “I’ll take it.”

Mako falls in step with him as they walk aimlessly through the halls. “So, you talked to him?”

“He, uh, he came to see me, actually. Said he couldn’t keep doing no-strings sex. It was easy enough to tell him how I felt after that.”

Mako nods in understanding. “He has always been unafraid of doing what it takes to get what he wants.”

They walk in silence until they get to their bunks.

“Are you happy?” Mako asks quietly, hand on her door.

“I am,” Raleigh replies, and he means it. 

Mako smiles at him. “Then that is enough. If he does anything to hurt you, though, I will not hesitate to destroy him.”

Raleigh laughs. “I know.”

Mako grins. “You better go see what Tendo has going on. He will not let you get out of it just because you are not a good programmer.”

Raleigh hugs her, before heading down the hall. 

Tendo surprisingly doesn’t bring it up until he’s done explaining the new code and showing Raleigh the mockups of how it will work.

“So, you and baby Hansen.”

Raleigh shrugs, uncomfortable. He isn’t ashamed of Chuck. He just doesn’t really know how to explain the progression that lead them here. From an outsider prospective, they’ve gone from a hallway fist-fight to chaste kisses in the span of a few months. Which he supposes isn’t too far off.

“Does Herc know?” 

“I assume he does. Chuck doesn’t seem to be keeping it a secret. Plus, I’m pretty sure Herc knows everything that goes on in the Shatterdome.”

Tendo nods. “He is fairly omnipotent.”

Raleigh figures he’ll be getting a visit from Herc soon. He’s not looking forward to it.

“So when did the whole thing start?” Tendo asks curiously as he shuts the systems down.

“The being monogamous, kissing in the halls part? Last night. The fucking on the regular thing started a few months ago.”

Tendo whistles. “I’m impressed. I’m sure he’s a handful.”

Raleigh shrugs, and they move onto another topic.

\----

Herc just glares at him. “If you hurt him, they won’t find your body.”

Raleigh puts his hands up in surrender. “Yes, sir.”

\----

The thing is, though, Chuck’s not a handful. He’s so sweet sometimes that Raleigh thinks he’s going to get a cavity. 

Chuck hands him a bag of hard candies one afternoon. Raleigh is sitting in the mess with some of the techs when Herc and Chuck come walking through. “Picked these up for you while the old man and I were in town. I remember you talking about them.”

Raleigh stares down at the bag. He can’t believe that Chuck actually remembered that conversation. They talked about candy in one of their shared PT sessions after Pitfall. 

“Thanks, Chuck. You want one?” 

Chuck shakes his head, smiling. “Nah, Ray. Not a big fan of them. Those are all for you.”

Chuck runs a gentle hand through Raleigh’s hair before he trails after his dad. Raleigh feels his cheeks heat as people glance between them.

The romantic asshole.

\----

“He’s showing me up at the whole dating thing,” Raleigh complains to Mako in the evening, dodging the staff she swings at his head.

“I do not think it is a competition,” Mako says, easily parrying aside his attempt to sweep her feet away.

Raleigh scowls. “Tell him that. He keeps doing all these things for me, just out of the blue. He bought me hard candies, Mako. We talked about that months ago, but he remembered. Then he just picked some up for me while he was in town like it was nothing.”

Mako frowns in confusion. “Is that not how it’s supposed to be?”

Raleigh blocks a blow she aims at his shoulder. “I feel like I’m slacking.”

“I do not understand your surprise. You have seen him with Max.”

Raleigh relaxes his stance. “Did you just compare me to his dog?”

Mako takes his moment of distraction and uses it to sweep his legs out from under him with the exact same move he just tried on her. He hits the mat with a grunt, surprised. She smirks down at him.

“I compared you to the one thing he loves most in the world. Do not be dense. I doubt he is trying to ‘show you up’, but the best I can tell you is to try harder.”

Raleigh stares up at the ceiling. “I’m going to romance him so hard.”

Mako rolls her eyes, and offers him a hand up. “Do you want to go again?”

He lets her haul him up, and plants his feet. She smiles sharply.

\----

The thing is, Raleigh doesn’t know a whole lot about what Chuck likes outside of the bedroom. Chuck’s either a great judge, or he’s getting insider information. The only person Raleigh can ask is Herc, and that’s not happening. He’s going to have to get his information straight from the source.

Chuck knocks on his bunk door one night, and he’s holding a chess set. He hefts it up. “I heard you like chess.”

Raleigh doesn’t ask how he knows. He just lets Chuck in. Chuck, who leans in and gives him a sweet, lingering kiss as he passes through the door.

“So what’s your favorite thing to do on a date?” Raleigh asks once they’re well into their first game, trying to be casual.

Chuck glances up from the board, shrugging. “Not sure. I’ve never been on one.”

Raleigh pauses. “Never?”

Chuck takes Raleigh’s bishop with a smirk before leaning back in his chair. “There was never a bloke or sheila that wanted a date out of me. Not to mention all the time I didn’t have anyway.”

Raleigh frowns, blindly sliding one of his pawns forward. He forgets how much younger Chuck is, how he grew up a pilot. Raleigh had plenty of time to date around if and when he wanted. A nagging thought comes to his attention. 

“Chuck.”

Chuck looks up, hand on his knight. 

“Was I your first?” Raleigh asks. He thinks Chuck would have told him if that were the case, but he has to ask anyway.

Chuck moves his knight. “Nah. You don’t have to go on dates to get laid, mate. You were the first person who I slept with more than once, though.”

“I’m going to take you out,” Raleigh says seriously. “Better date than you could ever imagine.”

Chuck smiles. “I don’t doubt it, Ray. I don’t need anything fancy though, yeah? I’m not the kind you have to wine and dine.”

“And if I want to wine and dine you?”

“Well, I won’t say no.” Chuck knocks their feet together under the table, before gesturing at the chess board with a smirk. “Check mate, by the way.”

Raleigh looks down at the pieces, surprised. “No way. It’s cheating to beat me when we’re having an actual discussion that requires more of my focus.”

Chuck snorts. “Nice try, mate.”

Raleigh huffs. “Again.”

Chuck starts moving his pieces back into place. “I did actually come here to talk to you about something. I have to go with Newt into town for a couple days.”

“The thing with finding what’s left of Chau’s underground network to get more Kaiju parts? I thought Mako was going. She said she was.”

Chuck nods. “My father thought it’d be a good idea to send both of us with Newt. Me to look intimidating, and Mako to actually be intimidating if needed.”

Raleigh rolls one of his rooks between his palms. “Oh.”

Chuck reaches out and grabs his hand. “Hey, it’ll be okay, yeah? We’ll only be gone for two, three days tops. I think the three of us can handle the bone slums.”

Raleigh sets the rook down. “White goes first.”

Chuck pulls his hand back slowly before moving a pawn forward. They don’t talk much after that, but Chuck keeps their legs tangled together under the table. 

Raleigh tries not to think about how long those two, maybe three, days are going to be.

\----

Tendo comes to get him the first day Mako and Chuck are gone. “Come help me sort through shit in the LOCCENT. I have to figure out what needs thrown out and what needs to go into storage. I’m worried about your sulking. They’ve been gone for an hour, dude. Your sad face is going to make people cry.”

Raleigh trails after him, glad for the distraction.

“You know they’ll be fine, right?” Tendo asks after the first hour they’ve been digging through files and equipment. 

“I know. It’s just…” Raleigh shrugs helplessly. “They’re all I have.”

Tendo scoffs. “You have me. I’m way better than those two.”

Raleigh rolls his eyes.

“Seriously, though. They’re going to be fine. Mako will be back to nag you about your eating habits, and Chuck will be back to make life interesting. And I’ll be here to be the normal one.”

Raleigh glances at Tendo, who is still wearing his standard bow tie and suspenders to clean out dusty boxes of miscellaneous crap, and can’t help but laugh. 

“Yeah, thanks man.”

“Any time. You know, I have to say, while I saw you and Mako co-piloting the second Stacker dragged you back, you and Chuck working out is a bit of a surprise.”

Raleigh holds up a file for Tendo to see, discarding it when he shakes his head. “You and me both, but damned if he isn’t one of the best things I’ve got going right now.”

“Kid sure does try hard,” Tendo agrees. “He’s constantly in here asking me about things you like to do, and what he should avoid doing to remind you of anything… negative.”

Raleigh thinks of the chess board. “I had a suspicion he was asking around about me.”

“He’s really worried about doing everything right. It’s sweet really. I don’t know why I’m so surprised though, with the way he takes care of Max.”

“You know, that’s the second time someone has compared me to his dog.” 

Tendo nods thoughtfully. “You do have that lost puppy look about you most days.”

They trade snide comments back and forth until Herc finds them, looking harried.

“How’s it going?” Tendo asks him cautiously, surrounded by employee files.

“I need a few hours of mindless busywork. If the UN asks me again for an estimate about the jaeger upgrades, I’m gonna tear out my hair.”

Tendo spreads his arms out wide with a grin. “You’ve come to the right place. Rals and I have got busy work to spare.”

Herc looks relieved, and wades in to help. “Thanks, mate. Figure if people come looking for me and I look busy enough, they’ll keep on walking.”

Overall, Raleigh figures it’s an okay way to spend the day.

\----

Raleigh is waiting for them when they get back, standing outside on the helipad. It’s been four days, and there are only so many meaningless tasks that Tendo can find for him.

Mako and Chuck climb down from the helicopter as techs come forward to help bring in their haul. Raleigh glances between the two of them, and when Chuck rolls his eyes and tosses his head in Mako’s direction, he goes to her first. He sweeps her up in a hug and spins her around.

“How was it? Scary as everyone thought it was going to be?”

Mako grins. “Nothing we could not handle.” 

Raleigh lets her go so she can drop her things off and report in to Herc. Chuck, who was watching them with a smile, comes forward.

“Three days tops, huh?”

Chuck shrugs, before reaching out and pulling Raleigh in for a very thorough kiss.

Raleigh pulls away, embarrassed, when the wolf whistles start up from the techs on the pad.

Chuck smirk. “You always blush so easy, Ray. It’s honestly a little game I play with myself.”

Raleigh groans. “Doesn’t it embarrass you even a little?”

“You forget I grew up in places like this. There isn’t really privacy or modesty allowed in Shatterdomes, mate. Besides, what do I have to be embarrassed about? I’m getting some on the regular from the best looking bloke in this place. I’ll tell the bloody world, no shame.”

Newt walks by, carrying a giant jar with stuff Raleigh doesn’t want to think about inside. 

“Don’t I get a kiss?” he snarks as he passes.

Raleigh pulls Chuck in for a hug, mostly so he can hide his still red face in Chuck’s neck. “I missed you.”

“I missed you too. A lot.”

The reunion sex almost makes Chuck being gone worth it. Almost.

\----

Raleigh wakes with a start the next night as someone opens his bunk door. Both Mako and Chuck have the code, but it’s the first time one of them has used it while the other is already in Raleigh’s bed.

Mako pauses in the doorway. “Oh. Sorry. I will just-“

Chuck rolls into Raleigh’s chest with a groan. “Mori, get in here.”

She hesitates. “I am not trying to kick you out.”

Chuck snorts. “That’s good because I’m too comfortable to leave. Look, we’re both decent, and it’ll be a tight fit, but we can make it work. I can share him.”

It is a tight fit, and in the end, Raleigh ends up with Chuck mostly on top of him so Mako has enough room to lie down. They do indeed make it work.

Raleigh is lucky in that Chuck not only understands his and Mako’s connection, but allows them these things. Doesn’t begrudge them spending time together just the two of them every now and then. Doesn’t begrudge them nights together when the nightmares flare up and they need their co-pilot. 

Chuck’s a good boyfriend like that, even though he definitely drools on Raleigh’s chest.

\----

Raleigh’s attempt at blowing Chuck away with his dating prowess doesn’t get off to a promising start.

They get seated at the table. Raleigh made reservations for this place weeks ago. The waiter swings by, takes their drink order, and flits away again. 

“I gotta say, Ray, this place is nice,” Chuck says, looking at the menu. 

Raleigh hums in agreement, glancing around. They sit quietly, looking at their menus. Raleigh purses his lips in consideration. 

“Do you want to get out of here? Mako mentioned there was a carnival in town.”

Chuck grins at him in relief. “God yes.”

Raleigh can’t imagine what people think of them as they walk through the food vendors, eating corndogs in their slacks and button downs, but it’s definitely more their style than the other place was. They play stupid games, share a thing of cotton candy, and look at all the little trinkets for sale.

Chuck points excitedly towards the entrance to a haunted house when they’re on their way out. “Let’s go in there.”

Raleigh studies the front of it with reluctance. “Are you sure?” 

“Don’t tell me you’re afraid of some guys in masks?” Chuck mocks with a smirk.

His good humor doesn’t last far into the maze of it.

“Ray, I swear to God if one more clown comes around a corner at us, I’m leaving your ass.”

“What? Are you telling me you’re afraid of some guys in face paint?” Raleigh asks, laughing, as a motion activated fog machine makes Chuck flinch and clutch Raleigh’s arm.

Chuck mumbles something, hiding behind Raleigh’s back.

“What was that?”

“I was wrong, okay? Now, get me out of this hellhole and take me home.”

Well, he definitely can’t do worse next time.

\----

Raleigh has a weakness, and it’s Chuck, but Chuck in dress blues is a new level of debilitating that could put Raleigh on his knees here in the middle of this stupid banquet. 

Raleigh finds himself turned in whatever direction Chuck is like a flower facing the sun.

They have to make rounds, talk to people, all in an effort to keep the public favor and continued funding using charming smiles and clever words. By the time the banquet is winding down, Raleigh is warm with the champagne he’s been drinking to help loosen him up. He looks up in time to watch Chuck walking over his way. The warmth in him from the alcohol causes his thoughts to get stuck on a loop about how good Chuck looks. There’s a heat spreading through him that he doesn’t think has anything to do with champagne. 

Chuck stops in front of him, media smile plastered on his face. 

“You look good,” Raleigh says before Chuck can say anything.

“You look pretty decent yourself,” Chuck replies, patting his chest gently.

Raleigh’s tongue feels thick in his mouth, and he can’t find the words to reply to that. Chuck raises an eyebrow.

“The dress blues really do it for ya?” Chuck asks with a sarcastic snort.

“Yeah, they do.” Raleigh’s voice comes out breathy and low to both their surprise.

Chuck, to Raleigh’s absolute delight, flushes. Raleigh watches his cheeks heat. Embarrassment is usually Raleigh’s thing, so he can’t really help but to see how much he can get that color to spread. It’s only fair, after all, with how Chuck admitted to doing the same where Raleigh is concerned. 

Raleigh drops his voice down low, just for Chuck. “God, and when you gave that demonstration earlier, answering all those insane engineering questions I could barely follow. You’re so damn smart on top of the way you fill out that suit. I’m lucky the demo was at the beginning of this. If I had to listen to it the way I’m feeling now, I wouldn’t be able to wait until we get back.”

Chuck is bright red, staring at Raleigh in shock.

“Yeah. I’d have to pull you away, and find somewhere private. Somewhere you could put me on my knees.”

Chuck breathes out hard through his nose.

“You could leave your blues on,” Raleigh continues, and he’s thinking about it now. Thinking about: “The fabric of your pants against my face, under my hands while I hold on. You can pull my hair, fuck my mouth to keep me quiet.”

Tendo chooses that moment to wander over to them. He takes one look at Chuck and whistles. “Damn. What could you possibly be saying to him to make him look like that?”

Raleigh shrugs. He can’t believe he said all that in the middle of the banquet, but he isn’t disappointed by the dazed look in Chuck’s eyes. “Just telling him how nice he looks in dress blues.”

Tendo gives Chuck a once over, and grins. “He does clean up nice, doesn’t he?”

Chuck blinks hard and seems to focus on the present and not whatever imagine Raleigh managed to paint for him. He looks at Raleigh with narrowed eyes. “You’ll fucking pay for that, Ray.”

Raleigh holds his hands up, feigning innocence. “I have no idea what you’re talking about.”

Tendo looks between them, eyebrows raised. “Keep the dirty talk to the bedroom, gents.”

Chuck’s face flares up again. “I have to go see if my old man needs any help with the engineers.”

Raleigh watches him walk away appreciatively. 

Tendo laughs. “Jesus, how much champagne did you have?” 

Raleigh says, “Just enough.”

\----

Raleigh tries to set up a picnic, and it pours on them.

The clouds go from pleasant and overcast, to an unholy amount of rain in the span of fifteen minutes.

Chuck laughs as they stand together under a small awning, watching the rain come down. He managed to grab the bowl of chips that had been with them, but everything else they abandoned on the grass a few meters away.

Raleigh sighs in resignation. They’ll have to wait this out to get their stuff back.

Chuck tries to dry his wet face off on Raleigh’s soaked t-shirt, hair plastered to his forehead. “Ya know, when my old man said something about rain this morning, I thought he was full of shit.”

“You’re not the only one,” Raleigh admits with a grimace. 

Lightning flashes across the sky, followed by a distant rumble of thunder. 

“Wow. I used to love watching storms at home when I was little,” Chuck says quietly, eating a handful of chips out of the bowl.

Raleigh eyes them. “Did those get wet?”

Chuck grins. “Sure did.”

So the picnic’s a bust.

\----

Chuck shows up at Raleigh’s door the next evening with cookies he apparently made himself after convincing the staff in the kitchen he could be trusted to not burn the place down.

Raleigh looks at the cookies, and at Chuck’s smile, and wants to thump his head against the wall. How in the hell does he compete with cookies?

They’re really good, too.

\----

Despite living in Alaska, he is apparently a terrible ice skater. Chuck brings up going ice skating one afternoon as they’re walking through Cityplaza. Chuck points out the rink with a hopeful smile. 

“I’ve always wanted to go ice skating. Never really had the opportunity when I was growing up.”

Raleigh pulls him in that direction. “I’ve never been either, actually. I’m sure we can figure it out.”

Raleigh, as it turns out, cannot. Any fleeting thoughts of having some innate ability based on where he grew up is lost almost the second he steps onto the ice. He’s forced to stay close to the boards, while being outdone by children that don’t even reach his knees. 

Chuck, while capable of staying on his feet and going a good deal faster than Raleigh, stays by his side with no complaint. Therefore, he is witness to the entire event. In an effort to avoid a small herd of children, Raleigh has to leave the support the boards offer him and skate out. That is where it all goes south. 

His skate gets caught in a groove, and he goes down hard. His wounded pride is only further damaged when he realizes that he fucking ripped his pants. 

Chuck finds the whole thing hysterical, but helpfully keeps close to Raleigh to block the view he might otherwise be giving everyone. 

“What are you doing? The car is this way,” Chuck says, gesturing over his shoulder. “Don’t you want to get out of here?”

Raleigh doesn’t, despite everything. They’re having a good time, and they’re in a mall. He can buy new pants.

“I can find some replacement jeans somewhere in here. Then we can get some food?”

Chuck processes that for a second before he smiles. Honestly, that smile is worth the awkward shuffle through the mall.

\----

Raleigh hates going to the balls that get thrown. At least at the banquets, he isn’t expected to dance. He’s not bad at it, and dancing with Mako or Chuck is one thing. All these other people, however. 

He taps the man dancing with Mako on the shoulder. “May I cut in?”

The man nods quickly, hastily stepping back. 

“Why do people always act like I’m going to deck them for dancing with you?” Raleigh asks, holding out his hand for her.

She shrugs and shakes her head. “I do not know.”

He spins her around and she laughs. The two of them are expected to dance periodically because of how the drift made them so fluid and in sync. It’s good for publicity. No one is quite as impressed when Chuck and Herc do it as a joke. 

They’re drifting around the floor when Mako spots something over Raleigh’s shoulder that makes her eyebrows fly up, before she laughs. 

“I think you may need to go rescue Chuck.”

Raleigh turns them around so he can see, curious, and is treated with the sight of Chuck and an elderly woman dancing. He doesn’t get it at first, until he notices the woman’s hand drifting casually lower towards Chuck’s ass.

“Oh jeez,” Raleigh says, as Chuck politely tries to guide her hand back up.

Mako stops, and urges him that way. “Go help him.”

Chuck spots Raleigh coming and sends him a pleading look.

“Excuse me, ma’am, do you mind if I borrow your dance partner for the next song?” Raleigh asks, as soon as he’s in range.

The woman nods and steps back, grinning at Raleigh. “Of course, young man.”

She leans in, as if to share a secret, but still talks at the same volume. “He is a marvelous dancer.”

With that, she pats Raleigh on the cheek, Chuck on the ass, and saunters away.

Chuck sighs in relief when she’s gone. “Thank you. She started off so sweet, Ray.”

Raleigh laughs. “Not your type?”

Chuck glares. “Don’t even joke. How much longer is this thing? These bloody shoes are killing my feet.”

Raleigh tuts, guiding Chuck slowly around in a waltz. “I told you not to wear your new dress shoes to an event where we’d be expected to dance.”

Chuck scowls. “I know you did. You were right. Rub it in some more you wanker.”

Raleigh raises an eyebrow and Chuck sighs. 

“Sorry. I’m just ready to go home.”

Raleigh squeezes his hip gently. “We’re almost done. Thirty more minutes, and we can go home to relax.”

“You should rub my feet when we get back,” Chuck says.

“If you’re good.”

Chuck scoffs. “I’m always good, Ray.”

Raleigh dips him unexpectedly in response. 

\----

Every time he says anything about stargazing, it’s cloudy. 

Chuck is allergic to the flowers Raleigh gets.

Newt sits on the chocolates Raleigh bought.

This is seriously getting ridiculous. 

\----

Somehow, Chuck just flashes his dimples around and the shit he plans for them works out perfect.

If Raleigh were a more superstitious individual, he might read it as a bad omen that all his attempts fail.

“You are being very dramatic,” Mako says, stretched out across his bed while he spins around in his desk chair, frustrated.

“I am not! It’s been a comedy of errors since day one.”

Mako snorts. “I do not want to take away from your crisis, but I have been reliably informed that Chuck just likes spending time with you, and has no real care for what it is the two of you do.”

Raleigh lets his chair come to a stop. “Reliably informed?”

“I have known Chuck for quite some time. We talk.”

“About me?” 

She rolls her eyes. “In the same way you and I talk about him.”

“I just want to do nice things for him,” Raleigh says, feeling petulant.

“You have been, Raleigh. You are trying too hard to make things perfect, failing to see that Chuck enjoys what you do regardless.”

Maybe Mako is on to something.

\----

Except.

"Are you fucking kidding me?"

Chuck's eyebrows furrow. "What?"

Raleigh gestures to the honest to god DVD player he's holding.

"Mako said you're a World War Two buff, and I read about a couple miniseries that are supposedly really good. I just thought you might like them and we could watch them together. They're based on true stories," Chuck says uncertainly.

Raleigh carefully takes the DVD player from him and sets it on the desk before pulling Chuck in to kiss him.

"How do you find all this stuff? I can't even plan a picnic without getting rained on."

Chuck still looks bemused, but he grins. "There's this crazy thing they have where you can check the forecast, mate. But honestly, I'm glad you didn't. Sure, we got a little wet, but I haven't watched a storm like we did that day since I was a tyke."

"You don't have to pretend you enjoyed getting drenched for my sake. You're doing way better at this whole dating thing."

Chuck actually laughs. "When Mako told me I was giving you a complex, I thought she was exaggerating. Ray, come on. Just because everything didn't turn out like you planned doesn't mean it was disappointing. I'm telling you, watching the lightning with you and eating those admittedly gross, soggy chips was one of the best evenings I've had in recent memory."

Raleigh looks at him skeptically.

"Raleigh, seriously. When I told you I wasn't the kind you had to wine and dine, I was being honest. All I need is your company, mate. That's more than enough."

“I just don’t want you to feel like you’re putting more effort into this than I am. Growing up, Yancy was the Becket everyone wanted. I was second pick, so I tried hard to compensate for that. Did all these nice things for the people I was with, but the effort wasn’t really reciprocated. I don’t want you to think you’re more invested.”

Chuck studies him. “That is their loss, Ray. For me, I grew up in the limelight, yeah? It was easy to find people for a quick fuck, but they didn’t want anything else from me. The fact that you want to spend time with me outside that is more than I’ve ever had. The only people who ever put up with my company were my folks, and even that was sometimes hard to come by.”

Raleigh aches looking at the self-depreciating smile on Chuck’s face, but Chuck isn’t done.

“When we went ice skating, and you had a legitimate reason to call it early, you didn’t. The picnic, the stupid haunted house, all of it. I’ve never had anyone who could put up with me for that long. I know a lot of it was my fault. I’ve been an asshole. Hell, I was an asshole to you, but you still eat the stupid cookies I make and let me drool on you while I sleep. So, yeah dates are nice. Maybe they don’t work out the way you want them to, but Raleigh, just the fact that you want to spend time with me is enough. If all we did was sort through Tendo’s stupid files together, I’d be just fine.”

Raleigh’s throat feels a little tight. Seriously, Chuck is going to give him cavities one day.

“You know, you don’t have to buy my time with stuff,” Raleigh says, gesturing at the DVD player. “I’ll give that to you for free.”

Chuck grins. “I know that. Think of it more as positive reinforcement. Now, did you want to watch these with me or not?”

Raleigh hooks up the player, and settles onto his bunk with Chuck flush against his side. 

So yeah, okay, what they do isn’t so important after all. Mako is going to be so, rightfully, smug.

**Author's Note:**

> Thanks for reading!


End file.
